Holi Colours
Phalgun arrives with the promise of warm days and new life - Spring is the season of rejuvenation and rebirth. The earth discards its winter gloom and begins to blossom again. As if to mark this change, Holi flings color into Indian landscape and invites the celebration of life.
The spirit of Holi is color - rich and vibrant, flung into the air and smeared with laughter on friends and loved ones. It recalls, very simply, the secret of life:
a shifting panorama of sights, movement and feelings. Colors denote energy - the vivid, passionate pulse of life. Color signifies the vitality that makes the human race unique in the universal scheme. Holi, the festival of color, is also the enactment of spring. It is, in a metaphorical sense, changing earth’s dull garb of winter for the fresh blue of the March skies, the bright colors of new blossoms, the brilliance of the summer sun washing everything with its red-gold hues. Holi comes alive with the colors of 'gulal'.
These are dry colors that are sold days before the festival actually begins. Markets are flooded with heaps
of gulal - they are arranged in pyramids and sold loose. Vendors sit on street corners selling gulal to passers-by. Gulal is made up of many rich colors like pink, magenta, red , yellow and green. 'Abeer' is made of small crystals or paper like chips of mica. This is usually mixed with the gulal to give it a rich shine. These colors can be used dry, or mixed with water. New brides make silver or gold color from powders especially available in the market. This color is mixed with a little coconut oil and stored in a bottle. It is applied in tiny quantities on the foreheads of near and dear ones, like a 'tilak' or a blaze-like mark.
In the old days, people used to prepare holi colors at home by using flowers blossomed on 'tesu' tree. For arriving at the color, the flowers were dried under the sun and then grounded to a fine power. The fine powder was then mixed with the water for beautiful saffron-red color.
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Holi Festival Video